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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. content — the amount
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. degree — an amount
  6. content — happy
  7. cue — for pool
  8. cue — a signal
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. rest — a break
  12. rest — what's left
  13. clip — a video
  14. degree — temperature
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. degree — from a university
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. clip — for paper
  20. season — of the year
  21. clip — to cut
  22. stem — to come from
  23. rest — what's left
  24. season — in sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com